Illegal Brick Kilns in N’ganj: High Court blasts government for not demolishing them

The High Court yesterday blasted the government authorities for not demolishing all the illegal brick kilns in Narayanganj despite its repeated orders.

"It has been found from relevant documents that one of the owners of illegal brick kilns has been jailed for a month while other such offenders have only been fined. There might have been some under-the-table-dealings among officials and owners of such kilns," the HC bench of Justice KM Kamrul Kader and Justice Mohammad Showkat Ali Chowdhury said during the hearing of a petition filed by Human Rights and Peace for Bangladesh.

Petitioner's lawyer Manzill Murshid told the HC bench that though the HC issued contempt of court rules against the high officials of the government, appropriate action was not taken against them.

The HC bench also summoned the deputy commissioner of Narayanganj and two other high officials on May 31 to explain why illegal brick kilns were not shut down despite its repeated directives.

The other two officials are the director (enforcement) of the DoE and the deputy director of DoE (Narayanganj).

DoE's lawyer Amatul Karim Swapna told The Daily Star that the DoE has demolished one illegal brick kiln and shut down the operations of 10 others in Narayanganj in compliance with the HC orders.

"The government officials cannot comply with the HC orders as the owners of brick kilns moved appeals before the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court against the HC orders," she added.